Forecasters continue to warn that Irene is shaping up to be the storm of the century for the North East as hurricane warnings and state of emergencies have been issued for New York and New Jersey.

Hurricane watches are now in effect f or the east coast from North Carolina to New York Harbor, including Virginia, the Chesapeake bay, the Delaware Bay, and along the Jersey Shore extending beyond Sandy Hook.

The National Hurricane center reports the storm stretches almost 600 miles wide and will carry a storm surge of 5 to 10 feet as it heads up the east coast and continues on its forecast track which currently has a 90% probability of directly hitting Wall Street.

New York City has issued evacuation orders for non-essential personnel at hospitals and nursing homes.

Computers continue to forecast the storm track riding along the eat coast with the front wall of the 5 to 10 feet storm surge of smashing directly into New York Harbor.

The latest European agency projection predicts landfall in the Chesapeake bay – which would wreak havoc on Washington D.C and Baltimore.

But the latest U.S. agency models put landfall directly on New York city harbor with the massive storm surge causing severe flooding from the East Coast of New Jersey across New York City and into Long Island.

The latest official Hurricane Irene 5 day forecast along with the in place hurricane watches and warnings issued for the east coast.

Storm Surge Probability forecast.

As Zero Hedge reported earlier there is a 90% likelihood that Hurricane Irene will barrel into Wall Street.

Irene Is Now Expected To Pass Right Over Wall Street With 74-95 mph Winds
Submitted by Tyler Durden
August 25, 2011

There is a silver lining though: just as it has over the past 3 years, the world’s Bernanke Put “Heads I win, Tails the world blows up” hub may survive simply courtesy of being in the eye of the Hurricane. Alas, this time around, the other side will arrive much faster: after all the Fed can not print windbreaks.

Wind speed map:

and probability map:

Three governors declared states of emergency Thursday as Hurricane Irene threatened to wreak havoc along the United States’ Eastern Seaboard.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie declared emergencies for their states, while North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue declared a state of emergency in counties east of Interstate 95. The emergency declarations allow states to free funds and prepare resources that may be needed.

If Irene continues along its current track, “from a flooding perspective, this could be a hundred-year event,” Christie said. He encouraged voluntary evacuations to begin immediately. “Anybody who is on a barrier island should go,” he said, adding that on Friday people along the beaches should start thinking about moving to higher ground.

Christie said it was too soon to know whether there will be mandatory evacuations.

In parts of North Carolina, mandatory evacuations were under way Thursday.

The military moved more than two dozen ships out to sea ahead of the storm.

As of 11 a.m. ET, the Category 3 storm was pounding the northwestern Bahamas, with its core approaching Abaco Island, the National Hurricane Center said.

“The core of the hurricane will continue to move over the northwestern Bahamas today, and pass well offshore of the east coast of central and north Florida tonight and early Friday. The hurricane is forecast to approach the coast of North Carolina on Saturday,” the center’s advisory said.

Maximum sustained winds were at 115 mph as the storm worked its way northwest.

That warning was coupled with state of emergency declarations for New Jersey along with voluntary evacuation orders ahead of what soon may be come mandatory evacuations.

State Of Emergency Issued For New Jersey, Voluntary Evacuations For Jersey Shore

Submitted by Tyler Durden
August 25, 2011
And so the Irene-induced state of emergency pronouncements start trickling in. First, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed a state of emergency order and urged people at the Jersey Shore to leave voluntarily by mid-day tomorrow as Hurricane Irene approaches the Northeast. The governor, in a briefing with reporters, said he was considering a mandatory evacuation of the Jersey Shore area. Following this news is the announcement by the US coast guard which issued a hurricane alert for Long Island sound. But the biggest losers? Insurance companies: both Chubb and Allstate CDS have spiked on expectations this hurricane could be a doozy in claim terms (although we urge readers to check their hurricane insurance: many times the deductible is far higher if the damage is caused by a Hurricane than a Tropical Storm: alas, this may be a saving grace for some insurance cos). What would be amusing is if the biggest loser out of today, now that BAC is threatening to close read for the day, is Berkshire’s insurance empire.

A state of emergency was also issued for New York
State Of Emergency Issued For New York

Tyler Durden’s pictureSubmitted by Tyler Durden
August 25, 2011

Hopefully, this is as bad as it will get. Per Reuters, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday declared a state of emergency to prepare for the potential impact of Hurricane Irene, which could hit the state this weekend. The formal declaration allows the state to aid counties, cities and towns “more effectively and quickly,” get help from the national Emergency Management Assistance Compact and get federal help earlier, the Democratic governor said in a statement. “We are communicating with our federal and local partners to track the storm and to plan a coordinated response, and we will deploy resources as needed to the areas expected to be hit the hardest,” Cuomo said.

All that said, we would be delighted to see the following scene on 200 West Street:

Higgins News Network – HNN Headline News

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